April 29th, 2007 - 12:07 pm
I suspct I wasn’t alone in questioning the signing of George McCartney from a relegated Sunderland team. It took him a long time to get into the team and his first few games were distinctly average. But in the last ten games McCartney has developed into quite a player. He’s never going to be a headline grabber, but his quiet efficiency hasn’t gone unnoticed. A couple of nightmare performances earlier in the season have been forgotten after a series of quality showings in which he has been excellent defensively and far more confident going forward. In short, he’s now made the position his own. His run down the left in the game against Wigan exemplified how far he has come. He just would not have had the confidence to make that run earlier in the season.
George McCartney, we salute you.
April 28th, 2007 - 4:46 pm
It’s days like these when I know why I support West Ham. The joy of it. And somehow, just somehow, a little bit of me knew we would do it. If anyone was at the game, pelase let us know your thoughts. From what I could here Tevez, Zamora, Benayoun, McCartney and Noble played out of their skins.
Our goal difference is now only five worse than Wigan’s. I really hope it doesn’t come down to that. We really have to go for it against Bolton, who are no one’s mugs.
I’m doing the newspaper review on News 24 tonight at 11.45pm. Let’s see if I manage to get West Ham into it somehow!
PS Leeds, eh? Couldn’t happen to nicer club.
April 28th, 2007 - 11:25 am
If I were Terry Brown (perish the thought) I’d not have had a good night’s sleep. Surely Eggert Magnusson will be trying to get the £5.5 million fine back from the former chairman. It’s quite clear now that the club didn’t just keep documents from the Premier League, they actually lied. Paul Alridge and Scott Duxbury seem to be the guilty parties. Mr Duxbury ought now to be fearing for his job.
I was expecting a three point deduction yesterday and we’re bloody lucky we didn’t get it. There are plenty of other examples of clubs who have had points deducted for far, far less serious matters. If I were a Fulham, Charlton or Wigan supporter I would be fuming. But I’m not, so I’m counting our lucky stars.
This afternoon is the latest must-win game for the Hammers. Thank God Tevez is allowed to play. I shall be glued to Radio 5, as it’s the live commentary.
I doubt whether there will be many changes from the Everton game. However, I do think Curbs will be putting a reserve goalkeeper on the bench this time!
April 22nd, 2007 - 11:36 am
Well Bobby Zamora’s on song at the moment isn’t he? At he beginning of the season he got 5 in 5 and now he’s done it again. If only he could have got the same ratio in the other games, we’d be top of the league! Seriously, yesterday’s game was one that gave us a chance again. I know I keep writing us off, and as it seems to bring us luck, I’d better continue to do it. But if we win our next two games, it really does look as though that might be enough. I just can’t see Fulham and Charlton getting any more points. Sheffield United are safe, I reckon so it’s two out of four – the other one being Wigan.
April 21st, 2007 - 12:33 pm
We need 36 points to even have a chance of staying up, so anything but a win this afternoon is unthinkable. Unfortunately I can’t be there as I am on the north Norfolk coast, but I shall be spending a very stressful ninety minutes being soothed by the sound of the waves on Holkham beach.
It’s difficult to guess the team for this afternoon. I hope Ferdinand is not brought back, but I expect he will be. After his appalling showing against Chelsea Boa Morte deserves to be dropped.
I’d like to think we can pull it off this afternoon but I don’t have a good feeling about this game. I hope I am wrong.
April 19th, 2007 - 10:54 am
The first thirty five minutes of last night’s game were as good as you’d find anywhere in the Premiership. We held our own and looked dangerous when attacking and solid in defence. Tevez’s goal seemed set to spark the type of display which could even have led to West Ham winning. But it was not to be. Within thirty second we had fallen behind due toi a terrible defensive error by James Collins and some neat finishing by Shaun Wright-Phillips. From then on it was just a question how how many Chelsea would score. Carlos Tevez seemed to be playing in his own at times, appearing at left back, right back, central midfield. You certainly couldn’t fault his effort. We just went through the motions in the second half. Our only chance now is to win our next three games, and we’d end up on 38 points. That could – just could, be enough, but our goal difference is so horrendous that we’d probably need a point at Old Trafford. Not likely, is it?
April 18th, 2007 - 4:46 pm
You all know the next line… And if you don’t, why are you here?! We need a result tonight otherwise we are dead in the water. The crowd will play an important part. We cannot afford to concede an early goal. Reo Coker and Noble will the be the key lynchpins and will need to hold their own in midfield.
We have got three big wins out of Arsenal and Man U this season. A result tonight would be bigger than all of them. We know we do well against big teams. At Stamford Bridge earlier this season we didn’t get the draw we deserved. Let’s make up for it tonight.
C’mon you Irons!
April 18th, 2007 - 2:11 pm
If reports are to be believed, Yossi has had the mother of all bust-ups with Alan Curbishley who has told him he can go swing. Curbs was none too pleased at Yossi playing for Israel but saying was injured at West Ham.
It will be a shame to lose such a talented player, but like his Israeli predecessor, you could never describe Yossi as a team player.
UPDATE: Well, as he was in the team tonight I guess the answer to my headline is YES!
April 15th, 2007 - 12:17 pm
Ex West Ham and England goalkeeper David James, now at Portsmouth, has written a fascinating ARTICLE in The Observer today, which may cause a few reverberations around the dressing rooms of many Premiership football clubs. He asks why not a single professional footballer has come out of the closet and admitted to being gay. He writes…
If one in 10 people are gay, where are all the gay Premiership stars? It’s a question that’s often asked, but there are only whispers, dodgy rumours and malicious media gossip for answers. Football, it seems, is one of the last professional environments where you can’t be out and proud. In every other entertainment industry we have gay stars. Why should football be different? Are football fans really so incapable of watching a gay player without abusing him? The same bunch of fans who are routinely homophobic always sing along to the camp-as-you-like Scissors Sisters anthems played at grounds up and down the country or the Pet Shop Boys song ‘Go West’?
A senior executive in football said to me he wished all the gay footballers would come out so we could just get on with it. I find that view refreshing. In marketing terms they could make a fortune. Just imagine, football’s first gay couple playing for rival teams, arguing about offside decisions over the dinner table. They would do Hello! magazine, chatshows, advertisements. Would it upset players being naked in the changing room together? What about the after-hours highly homoerotic activities – indulging in football threesomes and roastings? Would football culture ever be the same again? I can’t imagine it would be possible for a 17-year-old to come out, no matter how good he was. The protective bubble of success wouldn’t be there. You’d have to prove yourself first before you could be openly gay and still be accepted…
Down the years I could easily have been accused of being gay. I was a bit different – I modelled for Giorgio Armani, sparking rumours over which designers wanted to get into my pants; I practised yoga; I read, I paint. I’ve been to The Boardwalk – a gay club in Manchester – although I was with my wife at the time, and I’ve even driven past the local gay dogging spot in Devon – there were a couple of guys in tight black shorts and vests looking like Village People try-outs…
I have a number of gay friends and although they wouldn’t want me shouting from the rooftops about their sexuality, I’d like to encourage them to come out. I accept that it’s easy for me to say that, but how many more years will it be before we can talk openly about gay men playing professional football? From next season homophobic chanting is outlawed, which is a start. It’ll still take some sort of new age hero to be the first to come out, but I just hope, for football’s sake, that it happens soon.
There have been a number of rumours down the years about various West Ham players dancing on the other side of the pitch. Would it have made any difference to our support for them? I’d like to think not. Sport seems to be the only section of society nowadays where it is a complete no-no to be openly gay. Even politicians have come out of the closet with no consequence. People just don’t care anymore. Or do they?
April 15th, 2007 - 12:13 pm
Gutted, not just by the result but by the performance – or at least what I have seen of it. There’s no doubt that Anton Ferdinand is being made the villain of the peace, and porbably rightly. He got booked, gave away the free kick that led to the first goal and was at fault for the third. I suspect his place might be under threat on Wednesday. Tevez could have had a couple of goals which would have made it a very different game indeed.
I’ve had a look at the remaining games for all the clubs involved in the relegation battle and I am sorry to say that I think it will be ourselves and Charlton that will go down with 36 points. Unless of course, we can pull something out of the bag against Chelsea or Man U. And you wouldn’t be surprised if we beat one of those two, would you… and then lost against Wigan… That’s the West Ham way.
The News of the World has a story today about Carlton Cole and Anton Ferdinand shagging the same woman … and she’s now pregnant. She thinks it’s Carlton’s, but she’s not sure. Sounds like more hope than expectation to me…
